More from the Waushara County Fair

I always enjoy walking through the exhibits and looking at what 4-H and Open Class exhibitors bring each year. The waxing and waning of different exhibits is interesting. For example, when I was in 4-H, the sewing project was a big deal with hundreds of exhibitors all with a couple entries. This year, any given year of my sewing projects would have easily outnumbered the exhibits displayed on the two small circular racks. The clothing looked less interesting and more dowdy than that on a Goodwill rack.

A couple of categories that have really taken over though are quilting and photography. Baked goods are holding their own, and I know several of the Open class bakers and root for them each year. Again this year, the baking powder biscuits looked embarrassing; and again this year I vowed to my son, I really need to exhibit mine and up the ante.

Something that was not part of the fair when I was exhibiting is the animal market project where the animal is auctioned for slaughter. The prices per pound are incredible as one prominent business after another bid on the animals. Often the animal is served at a company picnic or donated to some food pantry or charity dining event. The company gets their name in the paper and it is great advertising, especially for farm-oriented businesses. For more and more of the animals exhibited, this is their last hurrah. When I exhibited, all the animals had a round trip ticket back to the farm.


Looks like this "ride" should be listed as an addendum to "Manly Plants"!





And who doesn't love chickens having a bad hair day!

A county fair is look into the private lives of rural and farm families. In the commercial displays there was a booth held down by the Waushara county Republicans. This year there was no booth with Democrats. I don't get the "Lego project". The computer project with a project on disc and no projection is another exhibit that is less than charming. There are some great craft projects using wood working techniques. My son always looks for emo and goth artists among the 4-Hers. They are not too thick on the ground among 4-H members, more of those than Democrats it seems.